Race Oddity -- It's Hard To See The Horses

2006: A

February 23, 2006|DAVE JOSEPH COMMENTARY

HALLANDALE BEACH — Seven weeks ago, the management at Gulfstream Park promised that its new $170 million facility, which one official dubbed the Taj Mahal of racing, would be the new "paradigm" for thoroughbred sport.

Eight weeks after unveiling the new building, this Taj Mahal seems like a studio apartment and the paradigm needs an overhaul. This doesn't seem possible when you consider the commitment made to Florida racing by Gulfstream owner Frank Stronach. Certainly he deserves credit for sinking more than $250 million into Gulfstream and the Palm Meadows training center in Boynton Beach.

You don't see the Marlins committing that kind of money for a stadium. Let's face it, it's hard to knock a guy putting all this money into a sport that badly needs ideas and investors.

But there are some serious design flaws at Gulfstream. For the regular fan, it lacks seats overlooking the track, unobstructed views of horses being saddled and racing and, to put it succinctly, it's way too expensive on major race days. And, yes, surprisingly, it also lacks enough betting windows.

Unless you can afford lunch in one of the restaurants on the second or third floor, Gulfstream might be one of the least fan-friendly tracks in the country for the average horse player.

Stronach promised in building the track that the focus would not be on incoming slots or card rooms but the thoroughbreds. So why is the apron so small and why are there large, concrete stairwells blocking views of the track? Why are horses saddled in an enclosure impossible for the public to see?

Hard to imagine, but the hardest thing to do at this track is see a horse.

Switch to the two rooms on the first floor, where patrons have their backs turned to a track you can't see. Although the rooms are well decorated and have fine concessions, one might as well be in a simulcast room in Ohio or Maine, which defeats the purpose for tourists coming to the track.

The real problem inside these rooms is the lack of betting windows. Since the rooms are used to bet live races as well as simulcasts, there's always one minute to post at some track in the country.

But, excluding $50 windows, designers made room for only 18 windows inside the north room and, excluding the ridiculous Horse Wizard machines, 12 windows in the south room. The area around the walking ring is no better with a total of eight mutuel windows.

Then there's Gulfstream's version of pricing on its big weekends. On regular days, a seat in these rooms will cost $5 while one with a monitor will cost $10.

But on Spectacular Saturdays the prices go up to $20 and $40. This is insane for the average fan. If you buy a $40 seat and spend $10 for lunch and $5 for a Daily Racing Form, you're out $55 before you make a wager.

Certainly that money would be of greater benefit being churned through the betting windows.

Meanwhile, if you don't want to spend for an indoor seat -- if you actually want to sit outside on a sunny 75-degree day with a view of the track -- there's a hard picnic bench waiting for you outside a tent on the north side of the building.

And there are fewer than 1,000 seats on the second floor overlooking the track, which makes it difficult for even owners to get enough seats on big weekend days.

And to think things could get worse for the horse player if Gulfstream doesn't build a separate room for slot machines but instead divides the first and second floors into slot rooms.